BIOGRAPHY: Mo Farah Lifetime Project Runway Mohammed "Mo" Farah, born in Mogadishu, Somalia, sprung into the public's conscience at the 2012 London Olympic Games when he won two gold medals in the 5,000m and 10,000m, launching into British sporting greatness. His success is all the more incredible when his upbringing is considered. While he was born in Somalia on March 23 1983, Farah spent a large part of his childhood with his twin brother in Djibouti, before moving to Great Britain at the age of eight-years-old. He arrived not knowing a word of English, but was soon finding his way at Holloway Secondary School in London. This is where his true talents were found. Alan Watkinson, his physical education teacher at Isleworth and Syon School, quickly took him under his wing as he was seen to have the ability to run well over long distances. From here, Farah started competing and taking the sport seriously. At 13-years-old, he finished ninth in the English schools cross country, before winning an English school title - first of five in his academic career - a year later.

He continued to work his way through the ranks, winning the 5,000m title at the European Athletics Junior Championship in 2001, aged 18-years-old, before starting life as a full-time athlete and leaping into senior competitions. Farah started to live a very disciplined life, moving in with a group of Kenyan runners and Australian Craig Mottram, where they ate, trained and rested without any form of social life. In 2006, he won silver at the European Championships 5,000m in Gothenberg, while in the same year clocking a time of 13 minutes 9.40 seconds across the same distance. This put him second to only Dave Moorcraft in the list of quickest Brits of all time across this distance. More success was to come later that year, when Farah was successful in the 2006 European Cross Country Championships in San Giorgio su Legnano in Italy. A disappointing sixth place at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan, were to dominate his year, before turning his attentions to 10,000m competitions early in 2008.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics ended in disappointment as, running in the 5000m, he was a long way behind the pace before being knocked out. But as he was to find out, this would not be the end of Farah's love affair with the Olympics and in four years' time, he would be launched into stardom. Yet there were still 48 months until this became reality and this led to Farah spending the late winter months of 2008 toiling away in Kenya and Ethiopia, taking advantage of being able to train at altitude. It paid off too, because at the very start of 2009, as the long-distance runner started breaking records, firstly with the British Indoor 3000m in January and then again at the UK Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham shortly afterwards. Following a gold medal win at the European Indoor Championships in March, the runner finished seventh at the 2009 World Championships despite being among the leaders early in the race and then collected another silver medal at the 2009 European Cross Country Championships.

Again, 2010 was a successful year for the Brit, winning the London 10,000 in a British record, before winning again in the European Cup at the same discipline. Further training in Africa helped him take gold at the European Athletics Championships in the 10,000m, before doing the same in half the distance later at the event. Still he was improving, building up to the peak of his career so far. He and his family - by now he had married girlfriend Tania Nell - moved to Portland in Oregon, US, giving him the ideal training conditions. This led to wins in the 3,000m at the European Indoor Championships and the New York Marathon, where he set a new British record. Added to this was the Prefontaine Classic 10,000m race, along with a new British record in the Diamond League meeting in Monaco. The year finished well, with a silver medal in the 10,000m race at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics in South Korea, in addition to gold in the 5,000m.

By now, his reputation was gathering quickly and he had become one of the best long-distance runners in the world. He would - intended or not - be peaking ahead of the biggest two weeks of his life. London 2012 represented a unique opportunity for all British athletes - and Farah was no different. With his reputation increasing, the runner was being tipped for success by experts and commentators - and he delivered in quite incredible style. Firstly, he formed a part of what became known as the Super Saturday of British athletics, winning gold in the 10,000m race as team-mates Jessica Ennis and Greg Rutherford did the same in their track and field events. Then, to the surprise and shock of athletics experts across the world, Farah managed to do the same in the 5000m, capping off an incredible long-distance double. Pictures of him looking startled on the finish line, arms aloft and mouth wide open became some of the most iconic of the Games. Farah's "Mobot" celebration, where he arches his arms on top of his head, also became something of a phenomenon, with politicians and celebrities tweeting pictures of themselves doing it in honour of the new British athletics hero.

He was awarded a CBE by the Queen in her 2013 New Year Honours. Farah's rise to stardom was complete. In the years following the 2012 Olympics, Farah has continued to impress in international competitions. At the 2015 2015 World Championships in Athletics he took 1st place in the 5000m and 10000m events. He was unable to compete at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow due to medical issues. In 2015 Farah was pictured training with Hamza Driouch, an athlete who earlier that year had been banned from professional athletics for two years due to doping. Farah's coach Alberto Salazar was also named in a BBC Panorama documentary as possibly being involved in doping. While Farah himself was and never has been accused of anything untoward, he pulled out of a Birmingham Diamond League event saying that he was "emotionally and physically drained" over his name being "dragged through the mud".

Farah and his wife Tania have three children together – twins Aisha and Amani who were born shortly after the 2012 Olympics, and a son, Hussein, born in 2015. Tania has another daughter, Rihanna, from a previous relationship. The family resides in Portland, Oregon. Mo Farah: How Britain's athletics hero escaped the chaos of Somalia | The Independent Athletics Mo Farah: How Britain's athletics hero escaped the chaos of Somalia When Mo Farah arrived in Britain aged eight, his prospects seemed bleak. Now he is a European champion Wednesday 28 July 2010 23:00 BST Click to follow Mo Farah: How Britain's athletics hero escaped the chaos of Somalia 1/3 3/3 REX FEATURES Alan Watkinson knew he was dealing with more than an average schoolboy runner in 1996 when Mo Farah, a gawky teenager with little English and a nose for trouble who had recently arrived in west London from Somalia, streaked to second place in a cross-country championship. He had started the race by sprinting off in the wrong direction.

The PE teacher saw nearly 15 years of nurturing his protege's talent since that day pay off on Tuesday night, when he sat in his living room screaming at the television as a magisterial Mo won Britain's first-ever European gold medal at 10,000m. In so doing, Mo completed a journey from war-torn Mogadishu to the heights of sporting excellence. Born in Somalia and raised in the country's capital as it sank into a ruinous civil war, Farah was brought to Britain as an eight-year-old by his father. Contrary to reports that he was a refugee, the young boy was able to enter the United Kingdom because of his father's long-term residence here. But his start to life in a strange country was none the easier for it. Equipped with just three English phrases – "excuse me", "where is the toilet?" and unhelpfully, "c'mon then" – the young boy began his first day at a junior school in a rough west London suburb by trying out the last of those terms with the toughest kid in the playground. Mo went home that day with a black eye and the respect of his classmates for holding his own.

Mr Watkinson, 45, first came across the slight yet spritely schoolboy at Feltham Community College, when as a 14-year-old still struggling to master English and with little academic aptitude, Farah was still getting into trouble and his ambitions consisted largely of playing on the right wing for his beloved Arsenal. Speaking to The Independent yesterday, Mr Watkinson said: "When I first met him, he was struggling academically and suffering from the language barrier. He needed focus and I sort of took him under my wing. His passion was football but it was his turn of speed on the pitch that showed his real talent. I took him to a schools cross-country championship. He literally didn't know what was going on and ran in the wrong direction. He had to follow the other kids around and he still managed to finish second. A few weeks later we went to a county championship and he came fourth despite having no spikes. "He had something special. I took him aside and told him that if he stuck at running, he could one day compete for Britain. It isn't the sort of thing you say to a kid lightly – it can create unrealistic expectations. But I'm very glad to have been proved right.

I'm incredibly proud of him." For Farah, 27, who now speaks with the twang of his adopted west London, the winner's podium in Barcelona's Montjuic Stadium, where he triumphed alongside his friend and fellow Briton Chris Thompson on Tuesday night, is a long way from his upbringing in the Horn of Africa. It would be wrong to depict Farah's early life as one of grinding poverty. His grandfather worked in a bank and the family home in Mogadishu was a substantial stone house shared by several generations where, according to the athlete, "we had a comfortable life, not easy but not hard". But as the Somali capital became increasingly lawless, with murder and kidnapping commonplace, Mo escaped to neighbouring Djibouti as a young child before eventually moving to Europe to follow his grandmother, who had settled in Holland. Rather than head for Amsterdam, Mo decided to settle in London and was taken in by his extended family. Mo said yesterday: "I was eight at the time when I came with my father and two younger brothers. My father was born and bred in Britain. We came to Britain to spend more time with dad.

I was really close to my grandma and I was going to stay with her but it didn't quite happen. So I came to London, started school and started running." Within a few years, the effusive if occasionally wayward migrant had racked up seven schoolboy cross country titles, paving the way via a disappointing Beijing Olympics to Tuesday night's triumph in which he left Europe's best distance runners trailing in his wake. Farah's friends say Mr Watkinson became a sort of surrogate parent to the young boy, keeping him on the straight and narrow to the extent that when the teacher changed schools he persuaded the athlete, then 16, to follow him. His agent, Ricky Simms, said: "Mo might have gone off the rails if it hadn't been for Alan's input. Athletics became Mo's family after he arrived here." Mr Watkinson said: "Mo's family were struggling to make ends meet and they couldn't drive him around to all the meetings and training. When I came to change schools, I thought I had mentored him to that point and he still needed someone to keep an eye on him in full-time education.

I just told him he was coming with me." With Mo's prowess on the track began to blossom under Watkinson's strict regime of providing 30-minute kickabouts and the occasional football shirt as a quid pro quo for running races, one of the biggest headaches for the lithe-limbed teenager was not so much doing battle on the track as negotiating the red tape created by his immigration status to get there in the first place. When, at the age of 14, Farah won a place on an English schools team running in Latvia, he had to abandon the trip after it became clear the Latvian authorities would not allow him into the country and it was possible the British would also refuse entry on his return to his adoptive homeland. A 1999 trip to join an elite Olympic training camp for promising British athletes in Florida only went ahead at the last moment after a face-to-face plea with a senior Home Office official and the granting of visa by the American embassy in London en route to the airport. The camp proved a turning point. Farah said: "I thought it was great and decided then that I wanted to be an athlete.

I knew I could do well at it." After a brief period of working in a fast food restaurant and a sports shop to pay his way after leaving school, Farah won a £10,000 National Lottery grant to take up running full time and at the suggestion of Simms, moved into a house in Teddington shared with leading Kenyan runners, including the 5,000m world champion Benjamin Limo. The ascetic existence of the African athletes convinced their new British housemate of the need to dedicate himself entirely to his sport. Last year, Farah said: "It took time to adjust to their way of thinking and training. The Kenyan runners are so humble and hard-working. They run, sleep, train and that's it. I'm living my life in that manner now. That's exactly what you have to do to be amongst the best in the world." Since then, the personal circumstances of the man universally lauded as Britain's best distance runner since the golden generation of Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram (whose races Farah confesses to having watched obsessively on YouTube) have changed somewhat.

In April, he married Tania, a former athlete and classmate at Feltham Community College, at a ceremony attended by Paula Radcliffe, a long-term financial supporter of Farah whose funding of his driving lessons allowed him to commute to training, and Cram, another friend. The best man was his old PE teacher, Alan Watkinson. Mr Watkinson said: "Tania knows about the dedication that is required of Mo. He is very laid back and will be reluctant to spend too long thinking about his latest victory. In all the time I've known him, I don't think I've ever heard Mo dwell on his accomplishments. He's always thinking about his next race. In this case it will be the 5,000m on Saturday, which is my birthday. It would be a nice present if he wins." More about: Mo Farah Biography -Biography Online About Mo Farah Biography Mo Farah is a British double Olympic champion middle distance runner. In the London 2012 Olympics, Farah won gold at 5000m and 10,000m – making him one of Britain’s most successful distance runners of all time.

He also won the 5000m world title in 2011. He currently holds the British record for 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m – and has recently made his first attempts at the marathon. Early life Mo Farah Farah was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, on 23 March 1983. But, due to fighting in the Somali capital, the family moved north to Djibouti where he was looked after by his grandparents with his twin brother. His father was at the time working at Heathrow airport as a general assistant and would sometimes visit, bringing gifts from England. Farah came to England in 1992, but ended up living with his aunt in West London and not his father. Mo has spoken little about his early experiences and there are conflicting reports of how he came to England. However, it is assumed that he might have come here seeking asylum or at least to escape from the troubled situation in Somalia. When asked about coming to England, Farah replies he’d rather not talk about it. Farah went to Feltham Community college in London.

Describing his first day at school, Farah later commented: “I was this African kid who looked as if he needed sorting. I ended up with a black eye.” But, although his school days were not without trouble and difficulties, his athletic talent was spotted by a senior teacher, Alan Watkinson. Watkinson nurtured the young Farah and encouraged Farah during his burgeoning career. When Farah married Tania in 2010, Farah asked Watkinson to be his best man. Watkinson remembers that when Farah first came to England he struggled because he spoke no English. His education always struggled to catch up with the language barrier. However, if Farah was not excelling on the education front, he showed talent in both football and athletics. Initially, Farah showed greater interest in football, but a key moment was when Farah was 14 and selected to go to the British Olympics futures camp in Florida. Watkinson initially struggled to get Farah a visa, but the trip proved a turning point. When Farah came back, he said: “I know what I need to do” Interestingly Watkinson remembers that during his junior career, Farah never had a family member come along to cheer him.

Aged 15, Farah won the English schools cross country championship – his first major national title. In 2001, he won his first international title, taking the 5000m junior championship title. After Feltham, Farah went to the Endurance and performance coaching centre at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. To support himself, Farah worked in fast food restaurants and as a sales assistant for sports retailer, Sweatshop. During this time of his life, Farah admits he wasn’t the most disciplined athlete. He would get up late and had a busy social life apart from his running. However, when he was 21 (around 2004) Farah moved in with a bunch of eager and disciplined Kenyan runners (such as Micah Kogo and Benjamin Limo) who lived at 59 Park Road. This showed Farah he had great natural talent and also inspired him to take a more disciplined and determined approach to his running. On the track, he was gaining international section and in 2006, he won his first European gold medal at the 10,000, cross country championships.

In 2008, he was selected for the 5,000m in the Beijing Olympics. But, Farah was disappointed to miss out on qualifying for the final. After the 2008 games, Ian Stewart was appointed head of UK athletics endurance team. He spent time with Farah and encouraged him to be more thoughtful in his training – cut back on miles and try and be fresher for races. With the support of British athletics, Farah also started attending altitude training camps. In 2010, he achieved impressive results at the European athletics championship. He won gold at both the 5000m and 10,000m. Following this step up to international honours, Farah decided to take Alberto Salazar has his full time coach. In 2011, he moved with his wife Tania to Oregon. Tania had a daughter, Rhianna from a previous marriage. Farah raises her as his own. Salazar’s training methods were working for Farah. A combination of altitude training in Africa and use of any marginal gain (such as cryogenic machine to aid recovery) In 2011, he had a great world championship.

Farah won the 5000m and only narrowly missed out in the 10,000m final – settling for silver. His good performances meant Farah was one of Britain’s top medal hopes for the Olympics. Under a blaze of media interest, Farah was able to win the 10,000m (27:30.42) on a famous night (Aug 4th) for British athletics. It was Britain’s first gold at this distance. A week later, Farah was able to repeat his performance and was able to hold on for the 5,000m – making him a double Olympic gold medallist. Describing the atmosphere in the Olympic stadium, Farah replied. “I’ve never experienced anything like this – it will never get any better than this, this is the best moment of my life.” After winning the gold medal, Farah was asked about his nationality, and whether he would have preferred to have a Somali flag. Farah replied: Look mate, this is my country. This is where I grew up, this is where I started life. This is my country and when I put on my Great Britain vest I’m proud. I’m very proud.

The support I got today was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe it. It was the best moment of my life.’ (1) After winning, photos of Mo Farah doing the ‘Mobot’ celebration became an iconic images of the games. Nearly as famous as Usain Bolt in the 100m. He developed the Mobot celebration in May 2012 after appearing on a panel game show host with Clare Balding. Away from athletics, Farah founded his Mo Farah foundation which seeks to support orphans in Somalia. He regularly visits to see orphans his foundation supports. During the Olympics, his wife Tania was pregnant with twins and she gave birth shortly after the games. Farah is an avid Arsenal F.C. fan. He is a devout Muslim and bows to the ground in prayer after a race. His double Olympic gold have enable him to gain lucrative sponsorship agreements with companies like Nike, Lucozade, Bupa and Virgin Media. Though he does not disclose how much money he earns, it is estimated to be over £2 million a year. He was awarded a CBE in 2013 honours list.

In 2013, he broke Steve Cram’s 28 year old British record for the 1500m, when Farah ran 3:28.81 in Monaco. In 2014, he completed his long standing desire to run the London marathon. He finished 8th in a time of 2:08.21 Citation : Pettinger, Tejvan . “Biography of Mo Farah“, Oxford, UK – . Last updated 7th August. 2014 Mo Farah – My Autobiography Mo Farah's family cheers him on from Somaliland village | Sport | The Guardian Mo Farah Mo Farah's family cheers him on from Somaliland village 'When he won, I celebrated and gave people gifts of khat and meat,' says Mo's eldest brother Faisal Mo Farah's eldest brother Faisal and his mother Amran will walk four miles to the nearest village with electricity to watch the final of 5,000m.

Photograph: Ali Jama Mohamed Friday 10 August 2012 09.48 EDT First published on Friday 10 August 2012 09.48 EDT Close This article is 4 years old The tiny homestead lies deep in the savanna, far from any road; tyre marks in the dirt offer the only trail. Nearby, a cow and a donkey drag a wooden plough in uneasy tandem. Looking on is Faisal Farah, who has receding short hair, two prominent yellowing front teeth – and a blue jacket that says "Team GB". On Saturday Faisal will walk four miles to Wajale, the nearest village with electricity, to watch his brother Mo race for a second Olympic gold. Their mother, Amran, who has remained in rural Somaliland despite Mo's success abroad, will be with him in the crowd around the TV, just as she was for the 10,000m final last weekend . "When he won, I exploded like a bomb!" says Faisal, a farmer who, at 37, is eight years Mo's senior. "I ran out in the streets shouting. "There were a lot of people delighted and cheering.

I celebrated and gave people gifts of khat [a bitter-tasting leaf] and meat." Mo will run for Britain in the 5,000m, but Somalis will be watching just as closely, claiming him as their local hero. The runner was born in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, and his family lives in the semi-autonomous Somaliland region, where Mo returns around once a year to widespread adulation. Locals speak admiringly of him visiting orphanages and refugee camps and setting up a charity. Faisal says Mo has built two houses for the family. Mo is the fourth of eight children, according to Faisal, who is the eldest. Faisal lives far off the beaten track, more than 40 miles from Hargeisa, close to the Ethiopian border and a world away from the lights and noise and logos of the Olympic stadium. Visitors are advised to travel with armed guards, following a road lined with abandoned petrol stations, trees customarily planted by newlyweds and a sign offering assurance that the area has been de-mined. The final part of the journey requires a Land Cruiser to bump and skid through bushy terrain and muddy quagmires.

In the surrounding farmland are camels, cattle, donkeys, goats and lambs, crops such as cereal and watermelon, and small homesteads with dome-shaped dwellings fashioned from tarpaulins tied with rope. In one, a sickly boy can be seen with flies crawling over his face. Along the way, women in brightly coloured hijabs walk and wave, hoping for a lift. Faisal, who must trek to Wajale every time he wants to charge his phone, leans against a tractor and reminisces about looking out for his younger brother when they were growing up. "Mo was always interested in sport: football and athletics," he says. "He always ran in the streets as a child. He was very smiley and happy all the time." Despite Faisal's age advantage, Mo beat him at running. "We played together, we walked together. We played football and sometimes we raced but he was faster than me. He was a dynamo." Watching Mo's Olympic glory in London, he feels no sibling rivalry, he insists. "It is as if I myself am running, so I cannot be jealous of him." Their father was a businessman and the family lived comfortably in a substantial stone house.

But Somalia was sliding towards two decades of civil war. "In Mogadishu, everyone was militia," Faisal recalls. "People in our neighbourhood died or were injured because, like us, they originally came from Somaliland. I remember gunfire and explosions, often targeted at us. I don't like it when the memories come back. I try not to remember." The family moved first to Somaliland, but conditions were harsh. "We were refugees. We left our business and money. We were poor, living in a very small tent in a refugee camp. The country was destroyed and there was every problem, like lack of food and power. Luckily Mo was a healthy boy." They then sought relief in neighbouring Djibouti, while Mo's father returned to London, where he had been born and raised. Mo followed at the age of nine and joined his extended family in Hounslow, barely able to speak English. Faisal had no desire to follow. "Mo went for better life, but I don't want to go there," he muses. "I like the benefits of this country. Of course I miss my brother but he communicates by phone day and night.

He tells me, 'If you starting training, maybe you will reach the Olympics one day!' When he comes back each year, we share a lot of stories." It is difficult for their parents to live continents apart, Faisal adds, "but my mother doesn't want to go there. She doesn't like the city." Neither Faisal nor others here seem too troubled by Mo wearing adopted British colours. He continues: "He's a Somali, whichever flag he holds, and he's my brother. He can be a double citizen. If he ran with the Somaliland flag it would be great, but he has British nationality so he must run with the British flag this time. We hope he will run all the way and be a famous man." Somaliland declared independence in 1991 but is still not internationally recognised as distinct from Somalia. Faisal says that, although he and Mo were born in Mogadishu, they still regard Somaliand as home. Mo has previously posed for photos with the tricolour of Somaliland , not Somalia's flag of a white star on pale blue.

Edna Adan Ismail, the former foreign minister of Somaliland, says: " Mo Farah may have been born in Mogadishu, as were many Somalilanders who happened to be working or living there during the time when Somaliland and Somalia were united, but he is not from Somalia. He is from Somaliland. He is from the Isaaq clan, and Jibril Abokor sub-clan, who are not natives of Somalia. Ismail, widow of the former prime minister and founder of a university hospital , adds: "Somalilanders were elated and were greatly celebrating Mo's victory. Although he ran for Britain, he is one of ours and his achievements can only make us proud and can also be regarded as yet one more connection with the British empire." But south of here, in Mogadishu, Mo has plenty of fans who care little for politics but a great deal about hope. Unhappy the land in need of heroes – the line is apt. Although a combination of insecurity, poverty, Ramadan and a two-hour time difference means there will be few public gatherings to watch Saturday's race, it seems almost anyone with satellite TV at home will be tuned in.

Among them is Amal Mohamed Bashir, 18, who watched the 10,000m with her mother and sisters and jumped to her feet when Farah clinched gold. "It was a very big night for me because he has a Somali name and Somali origins," she says, wearing a headscarf, Real Madrid shirt and red and black skirt. "Whichever country he runs for, he's still Somali." Bashir, a sprinter who says she was denied a place in Somalia's two-person team in London because of a bureaucratic mix-up, adds: "I'm very proud of him; I'm one of his biggest fans. He has talent and capability and we are trying to follow in his footsteps. It gives us a power because he's Somali, he did it and won it. I can try to do it and win it. I hope to be like him." Earlier this week Bashir could be seen with 20 other young hopefuls pounding the dust of Mogadishu's battered and bruised Konis stadium.

Goats clambered on the surrounding concrete terraces, makeshift tents for the displaced and destitute populated a nearby hill, and the smashed remains of a wall testified to two decades of anarchy. But Mo's achievements chime with a growing sense of optimism and possibility among Somalis returning from the diaspora as the bloodshed slowly declines. Jabril Ibrahim Abdulle, director of the Centre for Research and Dialogue , says: "We Somalis are running short of heroes to be honest with you. At the end of the day, he's the first ethnic Somali to win an Olympic gold." Asked whether Mo could inspire a new generation, Abdulle adds: "It's a question of how much it's publicised. I don't see Somali kids taking it right now in the middle of Mogadishu and saying, 'I want to imitate Mo Farah', because of other issues. But of course if he comes here and gets a hero's welcome, that could change things." Mo's victory did create huge buzz among Somalis inside and outside the country using social media. There was no mistaking the symbolism.

"Tonight, the little giant rose to amazing heights," said one message that was rapidly circulated after the 10,000m. "Tomorrow, we as a nation can do the same. After all, Farah is our own." Mo Farah is not European so his half-marathon best is a 'record for Somalia', says former title holder - Telegraph Athletics Mo Farah is not European so his half-marathon best is a 'record for Somalia', says former title holder Spaniard Fabian Roncero says Somali-born Farah's new European record of 59mins 32secs does not count and he remains the “fastest born in Europe" Recdord breaker: Mo Farah became the first British runner to break the hour-mark for the half-marathon Photo: REX FEATURES Follow Mo Farah has found himself embroiled in another row over his nationality after the Spaniard whose European half-marathon record he broke on Sunday called the feat a “record for Somalia”.

Farah became the first British runner to break the hour-mark when recording a time of 59mins 32secs to win the Lisbon half-marathon on Sunday, taking 20 seconds off the European best set by Spaniard Fabian Roncero 14 years ago. Asked what he thought of Farah's run, Roncero said “what was broken in Lisbon is a record for Somalia”, stressing that he remains the “fastest born in Europe”. Farah was born in Somalia before moving to Britain aged eight. • Mo Farah claims rival Andy Vernon said he was 'not European' “Although the official lists say that Mo Farah now holds the half-marathon record, for me the 800m European record holder remains Sebastian Coe, the 1,500m [Spaniard] Fermin Cacho, the 5,000m [German] Dieter Baumann and 10,000m [Portuguese] Antonio Pinto,” said Roncero.

In fact Farah holds both the 1,500m and 10,000m records, while the 5,000m mark is held by Moroccan-born Belgian Mohammed Mourhit. “For me, an athlete who was born in Kenya is Kenyan and one born in Somalia is Somali forever, and that is the opinion of the people with whom I speak,” continued Roncero. Mo Farah ran the fastest indoor two miles in history in Birmingham last month “Besides, I am convinced that 95 per cent of athletes still feel nationalised by their country of origin.” Despite insisting he still considered himself to be the fastest half-marathon runner in Europe, Roncero said Farah remained a “great athlete”, albeit one from a different continent. “I have nothing against Africans,” he added. “On the contrary, I consider them superior to European runners but with respect to the records, I say what I feel and I will never lie.

Mo Farah will be looking to retain his world 5,000m and 10,000m titles later this year “Farah is a great athlete but for me the records in Europe are what make European athletes.” Only last month Farah was caught up in a feud with British team-mate Andy Vernon, with the double Olympic and world champion claiming Vernon had suggested he did not deserve the European 10,000 metres title he won last summer as he was not European. Vernon admitted making a “tongue in cheek” comment but insisted it was not a reference to nationality and he had never discounted Farah as being British. Mo Farah | British athlete | Britannica.com British athlete Mo Farah, in full Mohamed Farah (born March 23, 1983, Mogadishu , Somalia ), Somalian-born British distance runner who won gold in both the 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre races at the 2012 London Olympics and at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Mo Farah, 2012.

Franck Robichon—EPA/Alamy Farah and his twin brother, Hassan, were among the six children of British-born Muktar Farah and his Somali wife. Violent conflict in Somalia drove the Farah family from their home in Mogadishu in 1990. The twin brothers and a sister went to live with a grandmother in neighbouring Djibouti. When Farah was eight, however, he was separated from Hassan and sent with two younger brothers to join their father in London. Farah arrived with no knowledge of English but with a love for association football (soccer) , which he expected to pursue. Instead, he was steered at age 11 toward running by his sports teacher, who drove him to club training sessions and later served as best man when Farah married in 2010. Farah finished ninth in his first English schools cross-country championships in 1996, but the next year he won the race, taking the first of five school titles.

He was supported in his early career by a number of major figures, including women’s marathoner Paula Radcliffe , who paid for his driving lessons, and philanthropist Sir Eddie Kulukundis, who covered the legal fees for his naturalization as a British citizen. Farah began training under coach Alan Storey in 2001 and won the European junior 5,000-metre title that year. After training in Kenya and Ethiopia beginning in 2008, Farah won European titles in 2010 at 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres. In 2011 Farah moved to Portland, Oregon, to train under American coach Alberto Salazar. His training partner in Salazar’s group was American Galen Rupp, who would win the silver medal in the 2012 Olympic 10,000-metre final.

Farah won the world 5,000-metre title at the 2011 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) world championships in Taegu, South Korea , after having placed a close second in the 10,000 metres, his only outdoor loss for the year. Although he lost three of his four 2012 indoor races, including placing only fourth in the 3,000 metres at the world indoor championships, Farah was unbeaten outdoors in 2012, most notably in taking dual gold medals at the London Olympics. Farah continued his hot streak at the 2013 world championships, where he won gold medals in the 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre races. The following year he won both of his signature events at the European championships, and he did the same at the 2015 world championships.

At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games , he once more captured golds in the 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre events, becoming the second man (after Finland’s Lasse Virén ) to win those races in two consecutive Olympics. Britannica Stories How Mo Farah rejected the "plastic Brit" charge How Mo Farah rejected the "plastic Brit" charge "Look, mate, this is my country". Was the Daily Mail listening? Sign up for our weekly email * Tweet Before the opening of the Olympics, the Daily Mail ran a series of stories on those athletes it called " plastic Brits ". By this ugly term, it referred to those in the British team who were born overseas and later acquired citizenship. Under the guise of reporting a "controversy" (controversial to no one but itself), the paper complained that "11 per cent of the 542-strong squad were born abroad." Thus, as Sunder Katwala noted previously , competitors such as Mo Farah (born in Somalia) and Bradley Wiggins (born in Belgium) were, according to the Mail's definition, "plastic Brits".

Now many of those same Brits have triumphed, my guess is that the Mail will quietly forget that it once disparaged them as "plastic". It may even use this moment to celebrate the successful multiethnic society it normally does so much to hinder (one witnesses a similar volte-face when overt racists such as Nick Griffin, whose party swims in the swamp of hatred created by the right-wing press, appear on Question Time or other public platforms and are noisily denounced by the Mail and the Daily Express). Should anyone revive the "plastic Brit" charge, however, here is how Mo Farah, his voice denoting impatience, responded last night when asked by one journalist if he would have preferred to run as a Somali. Look mate, this is my country. This is where I grew up, this is where I started life. This is my country and when I put on my Great Britain vest I'm proud. I'm very proud. Was the Mail listening?

Mo FARAH - Olympic Athletics | Great Britain Mo FARAH Olympic Games 2008 , 2012 Mo Farah, Team GB’s long-distance great A world 10,000m and 5,000m champion in both 2013 and 2015, Great Britain’s Mo Farah has now completed an Olympic ‘double’ on two occasions. In taking gold in both events at London 2012 and Rio 2016, he became only the second athlete after Finnish legend Lasse Viren to achieve the feat. “I sometimes look back on my career and I remember that it was when I started to train with the Kenyans that I began to think I could be the best,” said Mohamed “Mo” Farah. “Watching them, following them and being with them just got me thinking: ‘What’s to stop me being the strongest?’” Born on 23 March 1983 in Mogadishu, Somalia, Farah arrived in England with his family at the age of eight.

Little did he know it at the time, but he would go on to become Great Britain’s most decorated track and field athlete of all time, winning nine world and Olympic gold medals in an astonishing unbeaten run in major global championships between 2011 and 2016. Farah’s Olympic career began in inauspicious circumstances at Beijing 2008, where he failed to progress beyond the semi-finals of the 5,000m. “That motivated me more and I wanted to do better,” he recalled. Fired by that desire to up his game, Farah hired former US distance runner Alberto Salazar as his coach in 2011, the year in which he won his maiden world 5,000m title in Daegu (KOR). Discussing Salazar’s contribution to his success, he said: “He’s got me to that level.

He’s tweaked a little bit and that’s the difference between winning and coming sixth.” London pride After landing the first 10,000m/5,000m double of his career at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona, Farah went on to retain the 5,000m continental title in Helsinki two years later, just two months before London 2012. Urged on by a vociferous home crowd, Farah was among the favourites when he walked out for the Olympic 10,000m final in the British capital. Recalling the moments before the race, he said: “There was a lot of pressure, but you try to forget about that, deal with it, and be yourself and think about how hard you worked.” Tucked into the leading group for the entire race, Farah kicked for home when the bell sounded, surging into a lead he would not relinquish. Recalling that memorable night, he said: “The atmosphere at the Olympics was incredible; something I’ve never experienced and will never experience again in my entire life. Running in front of 85,000 people shouting out your name. Wow!

It was just unbelievable.” Struggling to keep pace with the British runner as he powered to the finish line were Ethiopia’s Bekele brothers – Tariku and Kenenisa, the two-time defending Olympic champion at the distance – the USA’s Galen Rupp and Kenya’s Bedan Muchiri. “I do remember it clearly, and I remember the guys were all there, lining up to try to pass me, but I had to dig in hard and the crowd gave me a massive boost. It just gave me that bit more,” recalled the darling of British track and field. “Crossing the line first was the best thing ever. It’s definitely something that will not leave… the memories. As an athlete, it’s something you train so hard for. To have the Olympics right on your doorstep and then to do that was just incredible.” Farah crossed the line in 27:30.42, with Rupp producing a late burst to take silver, relegating Tariku Bekele to third and sibling Kenenisa to fourth.

One week later, Farah ran 13:25.23 to win 5,000m gold and become only the seventh runner in history to complete the Olympic double, after Hannes Kolehmainen in 1912, Emil Zatopek in 1952, Vladimir Kuts in 1956, Lasse Viren in 1972 and 1976, Miruts Yifter in 1980 and Kenenisa Bekele in 2008. “I’ve watched it many times and I can’t believe how I won it. Looking back, it’s just like: ‘Wow! I did it’,” said Farah, reflecting on his stunning achievement. “It does feel like you’re watching someone else. You see the crowd and the stadium’s packed, and I’m just here watching and thinking: ‘Really? Did that really happen?’ You ask yourself.

But of course it happened.” After collecting his second gold of the Games, Farah celebrated his win with Usain Bolt, with the Jamaican sprinting great breaking out a “Mobot”, Farah’s signature celebration pose, in which he arches his arms towards his head to form an “M”. Asked to choose which of his two London 2012 wins was more special to him, Farah said: “If I had to pick one, it would have to be the 5K, the reason being that to do the 10K and then to come back and win the 5K was amazing.” Staying on top Farah secured another 10,000m/5,000m double at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow, after which he discussed his plans for the rest of his career: “I’m not sure what the future holds for me as an athlete. I just want to stay injury free, stay focused, keep my feet on the ground, and keep working hard. Of course I want to defend my [Olympic] title, but we’ll talk to the coach and talk to the rest of my team and come up with a plan.

2016 will definitely be the goal.” Those plans also involved the 2015 Worlds in Beijing, where he secured yet another long-distance double. Further proof of his invincibility came in the lead-up to Rio 2016, when he set a new British 3,000m record of 7:32.62 at an IAAF meeting in Birmingham in June that year, the previous best having stood for 34 years. And when the Rio Games finally came round, the indefatigable Farah continued on his merry way, maintaining his unbeaten run at major global championships by retaining his Olympic 10,000m title. Despite taking an early tumble in the race, he produced one of his trademark searing finishes to win gold in a time of 27.05:17, topping the podium from Kenya’s Paul Tanui and Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia. “It’s absolutely crazy. It’s amazing to win medals for your country, but that’s the reason why I make sacrifices and why I train,” said Farah after collecting his third Olympic gold. “I’m proud of making history and making my country proud.

I need to rest before the 5,000m. The other guys really pushed me hard tonight. I’m a guy who likes to win medals rather than run fast. One day, maybe I’ll go out and get a world record, maybe even in the marathon. But one of the things that keeps me motivated is winning medals and titles.” One week later, Farah successfully defended his 5,000m crown to become only the second man to win two Olympic distance doubles, after Finland’s Lasse Viren, who achieved the feat at Munich 1972 and Montreal 1976. Breaking away from the field at the start of the final lap, which he ran in 52.23, the British runner crossed the line first from the USA’s Paul Chelimo (13:03.90) and Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet (13:04.35). “Oh my God I can’t believe it,” said Farah. “It’s every athlete’s dream but I can’t believe it. When Bekele won all those medals I said I just want one.

If you have dreams they can come true and I always wanted to achieve these for my kids, because for so much of the year you don’t see them and thus you want to show them something or rather the reason for the absences. I got into the lead and I wasn’t going to let anyone get past me. I hate losing. I’ve been like that since I was a kid. It’s just the way I am.” Despite announcing that he intends to retire from the track after the 2017 Worlds in London, Farah may still have one more Olympic gold medal in him, with the marathon at Tokyo 2020 now contemplating.

Question: In which country was Mo Farah born?
Answer: Somalia